Well, over a year later, here is one response:
Our theatre group has not participated as a competitor in the festival, (we haven't been around long enought to have done that), but a few of us went to a festival just to see the shows this spring and it was WONDERFUL! I would urge anybody who has the opportunity to go to a festival, even if your group is not competing. You will see some of the greatest ideas, the best advice from the adjudicators, and some of the best team work you will ever see in community theatre. A great experience and we hope to compete in the near future.

More people should attend these festivals, they are a great learning experience and a lot of fun.

I went to the AACT national festival in Connecticut this year and I had a blast. There was a very diverse group of shows competing this year so I got to see a lot of good theater. It's also very cool to meet people from theaters all around the country, and talk to them about the way they do things, and to just share our passion for community theater.

Next national AACT festival will be in 2005 in Kalamazoo Michigan.

Dan

After a coupld of our board members attended a conference last summer (2002)we were so impressed with what we learned and ideas we could bring back to our theatre group that we proposed budgeting scholarships into our annual budget to help people cover some of the expense associated with an event. (Although, expenses are kept to a minimum and the events are a great value.) We feel this way we can encourage other actors, crew people, etc. to go to the state conferences and festivals. The same two went to the following event, but were joined by five others for the third event.